


Separation

by EmScully



Category: The X-Files
Genre: AU, Angst, F/M, Post-Colonization (X-Files), Super Soldiers, Torture, Violence, angst fest, post ITWB
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2017-10-20
Packaged: 2018-12-21 04:47:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11936631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmScully/pseuds/EmScully
Summary: Tumblr prompt from frangipanidownunder: Post-col searching for William but instead of finding him, Mulder and Scully are separated and have to find each other too. Angst. Torture. The works.





	1. He Was Right

            Mulder shoved Scully to the ground behind a parked car, her hip cracking painfully on the cement curb. Realizing what he had done, he grabbed her and pulled her into his arms, one arm around her waist, the other clamping a hand over her mouth to muffle her cries of pain and protest. Her eyes were wide and they darted around them in the dark. She could feel Mulder’s ragged breathing in her back, she heard him trying to quiet himself, his face pressed into her hair. Footsteps grew louder and Mulder ducked down behind the tire, his body cradled around Scully’s, pressing her into the ground. The super soldiers were on the move. They swarmed like termites over the city, devouring everything and everyone in their path. If Mulder’s hand hadn’t been over Scully’s mouth, she would have screamed.

 

XXX

            Less than 8 hours earlier Mulder received a call from an informant warning him of the incoming invasion. He was warned to get Scully and get out of the city, to get as far away from civilization as possible. And then the phone went dead. Mulder slowly lowered himself to the couch, the phone still in his hand, the dial tone droning on. _Scully._ He hadn’t talked to her in months, not since she left. Not for lack of trying, he tried to call her. He tried everyday, her cell phone and even the hospital. She never answered and his voicemails went ignored. He looked at the phone in his hand and hung it up. Three seconds later, he was standing and dialing Scully’s cell.

            “This is Dana Scully, I am not able to take your call right now, please leave your name and number and I will get back to you as soon as I can.”

            At the signaled “beep,” Mulder exploded, “for once, Scully, can you answer your goddamn phone? It’s an emergency! Fuck!” He took a few calming breaths, “I am coming for you, tonight. When you get off work go straight home, go straight home, Scully! Pack a bag for travel, just the necessities that you can carry and sensible walking shoes. Please, Scully. Do this for me. I will see you soon.” He hung up the phone and jumped into action.

 

XXX

 

            Sixty miles away, Scully was walking through the underground parking garage of Our Lady of Sorrows. She had missed a call from Mulder. _Ignored a call from Mulder_. He called everyday. He recently stopped leaving voicemails but her phone flashed red indicating that there was a message waiting for her. She swallowed. She always listened to what he had to say, enjoying the sound of his voice as he ranted and raved. Sometimes, he cried, asking her to come back to him, that he loved her and missed her and their home wasn’t the same with out her. She didn’t erase those messages and sometimes she cried too. Scully made it to her car and sat in the drivers seat but didn’t turn the key in the ignition. She hit “play” on her phone. As the message began her heart rate increased. Mulder was angry and then he was _scared?_ She couldn’t tell and it worried her. He was leaving the house, coming to her. _When was the last time he left the house?_ A panic rose in her chest and she started the car and pulled out, screeching her tires as she drove into the dark city streets.

            Mulder was waiting for her when she got home; sitting in front of her condo door, his eyes bloodshot and his face wearing a few days of scruff; he needed a haircut. He jumped to his feet when he saw her. _Scully._ She was beautiful. Her cheeks were flushed, her long hair curled beneath her collarbones. She looked tired and then scared when she saw him, “Mulder.”

            He took a step towards her and she backed away from him, “Scully,” he sighed and moved a way from her, “please listen to me. Please, Scully.”

            “Mulder, I can’t.” She pushed passed him and unlocked her front door, leaving it open; an invitation to Mulder to come in. He stepped just inside, closed the door behind him and locked it. Scully threw her bag and jacket onto the couch. She didn’t bother to turn on any lights. It didn’t matter. They had lived their entire lives in the dark. She moved around the kitchen, opened the refrigerator allowing in a dim light. Mulder studied her face for a moment before she closed the door and drained a bottle of water. She was studying him too, in the dim city lights from the windows.

            “I need you to listen to me. Just this once, Scully.” He wanted to move towards her, to grab her hand and make her listen, force her to accept what he was about to tell her. But he knew better. She wasn’t the same Scully he could drag around the country without a complaint. And she wouldn’t let him.

            She stood in the small doorway between the kitchen and living room, her hip resting on the doorframe, arms crossed and the typical skeptical look on her face, plus a few years of lines around her eyes that just made her seem wiser and more beautiful.

            “Super soldiers,” he blurted. He didn’t have the time to ease her into it.

            Her head snapped up, “what?”

            “They are here. They are coming.”

            “For what?”

            He shook his head, “ I don’t know, but we don’t have much time. We have to get out of here.”

            “And go where, Mulder?”

            “Away from here, away from the city, into hiding, maybe.”

            It was her turn to shake her head, “no, Mulder.”

            He took a large step towards her, “Scully, listen to me!”

            “No, you listen to me, Mulder! I am not following you into the dark anymore. I told you when I left I was done with this. Let me live my life!” Her words stung him but he didn’t let on, instead, he moved towards her again and grabbed her by the shoulders, hard. “Mulder!” She struggled from his grasp and he held on tighter.

            His voice was low and gravely, she could feel his breath on her face and neck, “you are going to listen to me, Dana Scully and you are going to listen right now.” Her eyes got wide and she stopped squirming. For a second, Mulder thought that if she got free, she would hit him. “I do not know what is happening, but it’s bad, Scully. Something big is coming and we have to get out of here. Now.” He released her arms and she stared, unmoving. “Trust me,” he added, his tone softer, “trust me like you used to.”

            She swallowed, her throat suddenly dry and dusty despite the bottle of water she just finished off. She took a shaky breath and stood straighter, looking him in the eyes, “no.” He didn’t accept it. He wouldn’t accept it. Instead he turned and pushed his way into her bedroom, Scully hot on his heels, “what the hell do you think you’re doing?” She yelled and pulled at his shoulder as he stuffed her clothes into an old backpack from her closet.

            He looked at her then down at her feet, she wore stilettos, higher than she used to wear at the bureau, “change your shoes,” he grunted at her. She didn’t move so he picked up a pair of her old running shoes at threw them at her.

She ducked out of the way and they hit the wall behind her, “fuck, Mulder! Stop this!”

“Change your shoes, Scully,” he pushed passed her, bag still in his hands and moved into her bathroom, dumping in medications and other essentials. He glanced over his shoulder and watched Scully pick at the laces of the shoes as she sat on her bed, her face ashen. He was scaring her. _Good._

Somewhere outside a gun went off, Mulder stiffened and heard Scully gasp. Two more pops followed. Mulder dropped the bag, turned off the light, moved towards the window and peeked through the blinds. _Fuck._

“Mulder,” Scully’s voice was barely above a whisper.

He turned and looked at her, “change now, come with me, or you’re going to die, Scully.” What little color was left in her face drained as the words were spat out of Mulder’s mouth like venom.

 

XXX

 

Her hip was throbbing and she couldn’t breath. _Fuck, Mulder was right. He was right and she didn’t listen._ She watched from under the car, her face pressed into the gravel of the road as dozens of feet passed in a uniform march down the road. Mulder’s weight was crushing her, she really couldn’t breath and she scratched at his hands. “Stay quiet, okay?” His voice barely audible in her ear and she nodded; he moved his hand from her face, she sucked in a deep breath through her mouth and closed her eyes, listening to the footsteps fade away. They stayed that way for a long time, unmoving, Mulder crushing her, her hip protesting and tiny rocks embedded in her cheek. But she didn’t move and she didn’t make a sound. He was right. They were here.


	2. Itch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr prompt from frangipanidownunder: Post-col searching for William but instead of finding him, Mulder and Scully are separated and have to find each other too. Angst. Torture. The works.

After what seemed like an eternity but was no longer than 10 minutes, Mulder finally sat up and hauled Scully up by her shoulders. They leaned against the car they had been hiding behind, and it was another few minutes before either of them spoke. It was Scully who broke the silence first, “Mulder, I, I had no idea,” she was ashamed of the way she had acted towards him. She should have trusted him, but her doubts had grown over the years and they left her bitter towards Mulder and his theories. She had been on too many wild goose chases to automatically believe everything Mulder said, or follow along with everything Mulder did. She rubbed at her hip and adverted her eyes, “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Mulder shook his head sympathetically and resisted the urge to reach out to her. Instead he nonchalantly waved her worries and apologies aside, unsure of what to say to her, he managed a weak, “its okay,” as his mind went into high gear for what to do next. He had no idea. “Are you okay?” He glanced down as Scully rubbed at her hip.

“Fine,” She jerked her hand away and wrapped her arms around herself; knees pulled up to her chest. “What do we do now? Mulder, you know we can’t out run super soldiers, and we sure as hell can’t fight them,” she tried to sound stern, but her whisper came out more like a whine.

“We have to try,” Mulder shook his head after he said it, it wasn’t very convincing and he didn’t need to see Scully’s face to know that she was giving him her famous look of skepticism. “We don’t really have a choice,” he added, with a bit more bravado.

She nodded noncommittally in agreement, but they didn’t move. Mulder looked at Scully, in her blazer and slacks with lime green sneakers. At least she could run, though Scully running had never been a concern, with the proper shoes, she would probably be able to outrun him. _Good. She can get away._ She nudged him out of his thoughts, “Mulder?”

“What?”

“What do you want to do?”

            He held back the instinct to crack a joke about making out with Scully in his old apartment living room. If he thought really hard, he could still see her young face illuminated by the fish tank, he pushed the thought from his mind but wrote a mental note to revisit it later, “we have to get out of the city.”

            “My car is a block down.”

            “Where are your keys?” She smirked and patted her pocket, jingling the keys lightly. Mulder smiled. _That’s my Scully._ “We run on three okay?” He reached out for the keys.

            Scully turned her body from him, “I’m driving,” she hissed.

            Mulder didn’t have time to argue, and by the look on her face, it wouldn’t have done him any good anyway. “Okay, on three, okay? Run straight to the car, and gun it.”

            “Where are we going?” She moved into a crouching position, ready to make a mad dash.

            “Out of the city, I don’t know yet.”

            Scully nodded, “okay, on three.” She took a breath as Mulder started to count, “one, two….”

            “Three,” Scully whispered and jetted off in front of Mulder, her hip hitching but not slowing her down. She could hear Mulder’s even breathing a pace behind her as she neared her little coup.

            “Scully go!” Mulder roared from behind her.

           She slammed into the back of her car and frantically hit the unlock button on her fob. She could hear them running before she saw them in the dim light of the streetlamps, “fuck!” She yelled as she dropped the keys, bending to snatch them up then shoving herself into the drivers seat as Mulder slammed the passenger side door, huffing loudly. Scully gunned the small car, wheels spinning as they peeled into the dark street. She glanced at Mulder who was twisted around in his seat watching out of the back window, he felt her staring and turned to look at her. Scully laughed lightly, her body full of adrenaline.

Mulder cracked a smile and sat back in his seat, “holy shit.”

Scully got herself together and blew out a breath then nodded, “yeah, holy shit.” They drove in silence as Scully expertly sped through the city trying to keep her eyes on the road as people flooded the streets. She jumped at the familiar sound of gunfire and swerved to avoid a car on fire in the middle of the road. “Oh my God,” she muttered under her breath.

Mulder was plastered to the window, watching seemingly normal people walk through the crowds and silently kill the people around them. Heads and limbs were torn from bodies, blood spurting over the living and in shock. People screamed, deafening screams of dying. They moved in a swarm like swallows, anticipating each move, moving gracefully and confidently through alleyways and narrow city streets, spreading out to destroy anything that moved. Suddenly, Mulder was confused, “why?” He looked over at Scully, at her small hands gripping the steering wheel, she glanced over at him, questioning. “Why are they killing everyone?”

“Mulder, what are you talking about, it’s what they do.” Scully couldn’t hide her confusion or annoyance.

“No, Scully. They didn’t kill you. Or William.” Suddenly, the back of Scully’s neck started to itch, but she didn’t know if it was due to the realization of what Mulder had just said or if she had been ignoring the slight sensation. She ran her fingers over the almost unnoticeable scar. Mulder watched her, his face pale, “no.”

Scully shook her head, “no, no, I wont accept it.

“Scully….”

“No, Mulder!”

“Why else? Why else would they be killing everyone? Why did they let you live when William was born? They are coming back for you. They are coming back for abductees. It’s time.” Scully continued to shake her head, as if it were the only thing keeping her from the truth. Then, she cranked the wheel, swinging the little to the left, jerking her body out of her seat as Mulder slammed into the window, “What the fuck?”

“We have to get to the Hoover building,” she righted the car and hit the gas again.

“What? Why? Scully, no, we have to get out of the city.”

“We have to find him!”

“Who?” He didn’t realize he was yelling.

“William,” Scully’s voice cracked, “we have to get to them before they do.”

Mulder realized what she was trying to say and nodded, “okay, lets find him.”

Tears blinded Scully momentarily and she wiped at them with her fingers and sniffed, “okay.”

 

XXX

 

The streets around the Hoover building were deserted and the guard shacks were empty. Scully pulled up to the front, turned off the car and twisted in her seat to look at Mulder, “the power is still on, that’s a good sign.”

“Think the doors are unlocked?”

“Want to try the parking garage?”

“I don’t want to get trapped down there.”

“Okay,” Scully conceded, “so what do we do? Just walk in there, hope that no one stops us and break into the database?”

Mulder nodded, “that sounds good.”

“On three?”

“Sure.”

On three, they were out and racing up the front steps, Scully strained her ears but didn’t hear anyone but Mulder behind her. They both hit the front door at the same time and Scully went sprawling when it fell open. Mulder jerked her up by her arm before she hit the ground, “its open,” he chided.

“Thanks.” She manipulated herself out of Mulder’s grasp and straightened her jacket. “Stairs or elevator?”

“Stairs.”

Scully nodded and they headed up the stairs.

 

XXX

 

“Montana.” Mulder’s voice washed over Scully like warm water.

She snapped her head up from the computer she was pecking at, “what?”

“He’s in Montana,” he swiveled the screen towards her and she leaned towards it, mouthing the words silently as she read. “Van De Kamp. William Van De Kamp,” she said her son’s name out loud. Mulder pulled the screen back to himself. “He’s 16, Mulder. Practically an adult.” Mulder swallowed as he scribbled down some information on a slip of paper and folded it into his pocket.

He looked over at Scully and watched her stare into nothing as she thought about the son they didn’t know. “Scully?”

“Yeah?” She answered without focusing her eyes on him and continued to stare into nothing.

“Do you want to go?”

“Yeah.” She didn’t move. Mulder crouched down next to her and placed his hand on her arm jolting her out of her trance. She focused her eyes on Mulder’s face, “lets go.

 

XXX

 

The roads out of the city were not as treacherous on their second attempt out. The soldiers seemly moved on, leaving dismembered bodies in their wake. Scully drove west, her eyes glassy but her grip strong on the wheel. Mulder fiddled with her smart phone for a few hours then sat silently in the seat next to her. He felt a pang of guilt for doing this to her.

“It’s not your fault, Mulder,” Scully’s voice rang like a bell in the silence, “they would have come, there is nothing you could have done.”

“Big picture.”

“What?” She glanced over at him but his eyes were on the road ahead.

“All of it, from the beginning, it’s my fault.”

Scully narrowed her eyes, irritated with the mentality Mulder had so readily adopted. “I had a choice, I always had a choice. I didn’t have to follow you. I didn’t have to believe.”

“Yeah but…”

She cut him off, suddenly angry, “are you really that dense?”

Her words hit him in the chest and he flinched, “maybe?”

“Mulder, everything I did, I did because I wanted to, I did because I love you. I made my own decisions; I made my own path in life. Yeah, things could be different, who knows? But you know what? They aren’t, this is our life now and you don’t get to wallow in it! I never get to wallow! I never get to sulk! All you do is sulk, Mulder. When do I get to be sad? When do I get to hide away and pretend like nothing ever happened?!” She was suddenly yelling and the car swerved onto the gravel shoulder, “shit.” She overcorrected and veered into the other lane then back into hers, slowing to a stop on the side, her chest heaving.

“Do you want me to drive?”

“Yeah.” Scully got out of the car and walked around the opposite side Mulder took and slammed the passenger door harder than necessary.

The car glided down the deserted road for a few minutes before it was Mulder’s turn to break the silence, “you’re allowed to be sad, Scully,” his voice drifted.

Scully looked at him, “I am sad, Mulder. Very, very sad, but I do not let it control my life. I can’t imagine where I would be if I allowed my darkness to overtake me.”

“You don’t have a darkness.”

Scully sighed, “Everyone has a darkness.”

“When did yours find you?”

“I don’t know, Mulder.”

“Yes you do, tell me. Was it when Mellissa died? Ahab? Your cancer?” He paused for a moment, “William?”

“William is a light in my life, no matter how brief.”

“So your darkness?”

“I don’t remember a time when I didn’t have it. Some people are born with it, a cross to bear, so to speak.”

Mulder nodded but was unsure he understood, “I don’t think I was born with darkness.”

“I don’t think you were either.”

“I think my darkness replaced Samantha.”

They were silent until the sun peeked an orange purple over the horizon and they pulled into a parking lot of a small gas station. Mulder watched the perimeter while Scully went to the restroom. She came back with bottles of water, chocolate and sunflower seeds. Mulder smiled. They got back in the car and locked the doors. Scully leaned her seat back, “are you tired?”

“I want to drive some more. You sleep, I will wake you up when I need a break,” he ripped the bag of sunflower seeds open with his teeth, flinging them all over the car. Scully smiled slightly and curled into the seat, her jacket draped over her shoulders and her back turned to Mulder.

 

XXX

 

Scully woke with a yelp as Mulder rubbed her bruised hip to wake her, “Mulder, what?” She pushed his hand away and sat up, bleary eyed and exhausted.

“We have to get off the road.”

“Huh, why?”

“They are patrolling. Get out, come on,” his voice was firm and distant as he exited the car, quickly moving around to the passenger side to pull a still half asleep Scully up. He glanced behind them and pushed Scully towards the sloping shoulder of the road.

Scully craned her neck around to see around Mulder, “I don’t see anyone.”

“I think that’s the point, Scully.”

“Since when…” her words were cut off when she slid in the wet weeds and grabbed Mulder’s hand, this time, she didn’t let go.

“I think they have always had the ability to remove themselves from our vision,” Mulder answered her interrupted question as he pulled her into the forest.

“Remove themselves from our vision, Mulder, what the hell are you trying to say? The word is invisible,” Scully scoffed as she dodged a limb Mulder conveniently swiped and let fly back towards her.

“If I had meant invisible, I would have said invisible.”

“Okay, so what are you trying to say?”

Mulder held a finger to his lips and pointed ahead of them. Scully squinted into the mid-morning light, scanning the trees in front of them. She was about to ask what she was supposed to be looking at when she saw what Mulder was pointing to. The trunk of a large tree about 20 yards ahead of them shifted, then as if it were being peeled, a piece of it moved away, only, it wasn’t a piece. It was a man. The man took a second step and stood next to the tree. His skin, gnarled and rough like the tree itself, slowly shifted into the smooth complexion of a human. And in the next second he turned and ran into the cover of the trees at an impossible speed. Scully’s heart pounded and she held on to Mulder’s hand with everything she had.

“Camouflage,” Mulder said coolly as he lightly squeezed Scully’s damp hand.

“We have to get out of the woods, back to the car, Mulder, we can’t be here!” She tugged at his hand and tried to pull him back towards the road.

He shook his head, “they were on the road, Scully. There is no place to hide. At least in the woods we have a chance at cover.”

His logic didn’t make sense to her and she pulled at him again, desperate to get out of the forest and into the safety of her car. She wanted to go home, to be in her bed, enjoying a day off of work, she wanted to be anywhere but where she was; following Mulder into another disaster. Mulder didn’t budge; instead he tightened his grip on Scully’s hand and pulled her as he marched through the foliage, “stop, let go of me!” She scratched at his hand and he loosened his grip enough for her to wrench herself free. She stared at him, her eyes blazing.

“We don’t have a choice!” His voice matched the anger in her eyes.

She took a step back and held out her hands, “I am going to tell you something, and you have to stay calm, okay?”

His head cocked slightly, “what?”

Scully moved her hand to the nape of her neck, “I can feel it.”

Mulder’s eyes widened, “why didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought I was imagining it. It started as an itch, barely there. But, its um, its vibrating?” The words felt silly as she said them and she adverted her eyes, staring down at her green sneakers.

“Vibrating?”

Scully nodded and reached for Mulder’s hand, pulling it up to her neck. His hand slid beneath her hair, warm and damp with sweat, to the spot he knew all too well. His fingers pressed lightly and he jerked his hand away, “Scully!”

“It’s getting worse,” her voice cracked, “they are following me” Mulder started to pace, his feet crunching the dried leaves. He was suddenly panicked. _Fuck fuck fuck.._ “You have to cut it out,” Scully stated in professional doctor voice.

Mulder’s eyes snapped to her face and he stopped walking, “No, that is not an option, Scully. Don’t even think about it.”

“But I am thinking about it! What if I am just leading them to us? What if I am leading them to William?”

“You’re not!”

“You don’t know that!” Her fists balled at her sides as she fought back hot tears. _Damnit, stop crying!_

“I’m not doing it. No. We will deal with what ever happens. But I won’t let you get sick. It won’t happen again, Scully!”

“We may not have a choice,” she whispered softly, finally allowing her emotions to get the best of her. She moved towards Mulder, pushing herself into his chest. He stood for a moment, his arms at his side, until he felt Scully wrap her arms around him and then he did what came to him so naturally; he held her.


	3. Burning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mulder and Scully are separated

They had been walking for hours and so far, no more of the super soldiers had made their presence known. But Mulder knew they were out there. He walked a few paces ahead of Scully, looking back occasionally at her while pretending to adjust the bag on his back. She wasn’t dumb; she knew he was watching her. “Stop staring at me, Mulder.”

            Mulder smiled to himself and straightened his head to watch the dense forest in front of him. “Do you still feel it?”

            “Yes.” He looked at the sky darkening behind the treetops. He slowed and eventually stopped. Scully wasn’t paying attention and walked into his back. “Why did you stop? Is there another solider?” She craned to look around him, her eyes wide and alert. She silently wished for her gun.

            “No, I don’t think so. I just think we should stop for the night.”

            “Here?”

            “Got a better idea?”

            Scully looked around them and sighed, “I don’t know Mulder, a bed would be nice, maybe a bath.

            “Maybe we can call for room service.” He dropped the bag at the base of a large tree and sat heavily next to it.

            Scully stayed standing and looked down at him. “What’s the plan, Mulder? Are we just going to walk to Montana?”

            Mulder shook his head and pulled out a map. “We can’t walk to Montana, Scully.” He chuffed. “I was hoping to distance ourselves from major populations, maybe find a vehicle in a smaller town and make our way west by back roads.” He stared up at her, “I just don’t want to be caught in the middle of whatever is happening out there.”

            Scully sat across from him, “unfortunately, I don’t think hiding in the woods is going to help us much. If they want us, they got us. I just don’t know why they haven’t yet. Unless they really are relying on us to lead them to William.”

            Mulder shook his head, “I don’t think so, Scully.”

            “But you don’t know.”

            “No, I don’t.”

Scully untied her jacket from around her waist and put it around her shoulders. She knew there wouldn’t be a fire, and she was certainly not going to turn to Mulder for warmth. She braced for a cool evening on the hard ground, knowing that she wouldn’t sleep. She wasn’t sure she would ever sleep again. The vibrating in her neck continued and she forced herself to ignore it. She felt a small thud on her thigh and looks over at the ground to a small chocolate bar.

“Dinner.” Mulder said with a wink and took a swig of water. “We should probably ration what we have.”

“Rations. Jesus, Mulder. We are not prepared at all.”

“Is anyone prepared for this? At least you changed your shoes.”

She narrowed her eyes at him and rubbed her neck, the vibrations pressing into her fingers. She saw Mulder watching her and she dropped her hands. “We really need to cut this out.”

“Please don’t ask me again.”

“You know, I don’t need you to do it. I can do it myself.”

“Scully.”

“Mulder. It’s my body. I have a bad feeling about this. Really bad.”

“A feeling?”

“We followed your feelings for years. I’m allowed to have feelings, Mulder. I have intuition and sometimes it’s right.”

“I didn’t say that. What I am saying is, correct intuitions or not, this is your health.”

“It’s also our son, Mulder. I told you, we could be leading them right to him.”

“We don’t know that!”

“No. We don’t.” She crossed her arms over her shins and rested her chin on her knees; closed her eyes and pretended she was on her couch with a mug of tea cooling in front of her.

They were silent for a while, neither willing to break the silence with what would undoubtedly be another argument. They sky went black and Scully moved to her side, still in a tight ball. Mulder watched her eyes move under her eyelids and knew she wasn’t sleeping. When a twig cracked behind them, her eyes flew open and she was up and next to him in a second. Mulder held his gun out in front of him and instinctively pushed Scully behind him. “Do you have a flashlight?” She whispered from behind him.

“It will bring too much attention to us.” He whispered back. Another crack of a twig behind them and they both spun. Scully moved to Mulder’s side before he could shove her again. Her heart pounded in her ears and she tried furiously to focus her eyes in the dark. “Scully, I think they’re surrounding us.” Before Scully had a chance to answer a searing pain ripped into her skull and down her spine, emanating from the chip. She swallowed back a moan and crouched down to the ground, her hands wrapped around the back of her neck. “Scully?” Mulder called in a hoarse whisper and reached out for her. He doubled over at his waist and put his free and on Scully’s shoulder. “Are you okay?” He stood again, spinning with his gun in his hand, following the cracks and snaps circling around them.

Scully bit back a groan as a vice clamped around her head. She felt hot and nauseous as the searing pain radiated down her back. The back of her neck was pulsing under her hands. Mulder was down by her side, whispering in her ear and rubbing her back. She shook her head, unable to make sense of what he was saying. Then he was gone again and she was left with the pulsing heat. “Mulder” she choked out and reached up to him, grabbing his pant leg.

He was down next to her again, coaxing her to get up. “We have to go Scully. We have to run.” The sounds that were circling them were moving closer, he was getting dizzy from spinning. “Scully!”

“Mm, Mulder, please, just cut the fucking thing out!” She gritted through clenched teeth.

“Scully no! Come on, try to get up.” He tucked his gun in his pants and hauled Scully up by her arms. He peered into her face, her eyes still closed, “Scully, can you hear me?”

“Yes.” Her hands went back to her neck and she swayed but opened her eyes.

“Come on.” He didn’t wait for her to answer and tugged at her arm, half dragging her through the black forest.

Scully stumbled behind Mulder, his hand bruising her arm. Behind the burning pain, she heard crashing through the woods behind them. Somehow her feet obeyed and continued to propel her forward. But then, out of nowhere, her body was slammed to the ground and Mulder was screaming. Her face was pressed into the leafy floor and someone was wrenching her arms behind her back. A gunshot rang out to her left and a body was on top of her. The back of her hip and thigh were now burning with a wet sensation. She didn’t have to guess what it was. She pushed her arms under her body and lifted herself up, rolling the body off of her. It twitched and struggled to regain control of her and she kicked at it. She could hear Mulder struggling next to her. “Mulder!” It was so dark; her head was on fire and her thigh matched. She kicked again and scrambled to her feet.

“Scully! Run!!” Go!!” Mulder called out, and then grunted as he fought with the super solider. Scully hesitated and Mulder screamed at her again, “go! I’ll find you! Go!” She turned away from his voice, terror tightened in her chest. She ran, but had no idea where she was going. Mulder’s voice followed her then disappeared, she slowed and then stopped, her breathing ragged. She doubled over, pulling air into her lungs then stood up and listened. Nothing. She was in silent blackness. Alone.


	4. Scream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr prompt from frangipanidownunder: Post-col searching for William but instead of finding him, Mulder and Scully are separated and have to find each other too. Angst. Torture. The works.

Mulder woke up naked and cold. His head hurt and he could see a bright light above him without having to open his eyes. It didn’t give off any warmth and he knew instinctively that it wasn’t the sun. He wiggled his fingers and then his toes. He could move, barely. Then his hand pressed into the cold ground. It wasn’t the forest floor. It was cold and metallic. _Oh fuck, no._ He forced himself to open his eyes and was instantly blinded by the light above him. He groaned and rolled over, his face pressing against the cool floor. He opened his eyes again and blinked at the silver wall in front of him. The entire room was smooth metal. Mulder sat up slowly and put his head in his hands. He felt sick, nauseous and hot, and there was a weird taste in his mouth. He looked down at his chest, expecting to see lacerations and scars from experiments. But he looked normal. Suddenly his head snapped up and he looked around the room in a panic. _Scully._ He was alone. Scully was gone. The nausea intensified and he lay back down, curling around himself. _I lost Scully._

XXX

 

            Scully woke in the middle of the woods alone. The pain in her back and head had subsided but the vibration was back. She sat up gingerly and brushed some leaves from her hair. The sun was warm and she held her face up to it, trying to absorb what little energy she could. Mulder was gone. The bag was gone. There were no super soldiers chasing her. She felt a moment of relief but it was quickly replaced by deep anxiety. _Where is Mulder?_ She forced horrible thoughts from her head as she pushed herself up and looked around. How long had she been running? And from which direction? Everything looked the same. She instinctively knew that staying in place was the wrong thing to do, so she headed in the direction she was facing and prayed it would lead to something, anything.

            Scully didn’t know how long she has been walking but it was long enough that the sun was starting its decent and her mouth was parched. Nothing had changed around her and she feared she was trudging deeper into the forest, away from civilization or any sort of help. Away from Mulder. _Damn him._ She cursed him to herself. It really wasn’t his fault, who knew if she would be alive had she stayed home? _Home._ She doubted she had a home left. She pushed those thoughts from her mind too. She focused on walking, on heading towards some sort of destination. She rubbed at her neck and touched the tiny vibrations with the tips of her fingers. She knew she should have taken the chip out. She considered doing it in that moment but her lack of equipment was an obvious reason not to. In her fog of thoughts she didn’t recognize the road ahead of her, but a few moments later she was running. It wasn’t a road; it was a highway, and it was completely deserted. Cars blocked and lined the four lanes and Scully tentatively approached a small SUV on the shoulder. The body of a man was face down in front of the vehicle in a pool of congealed blood. She moved around the body and peered into the car. The keys were in it.

 

XXX

 

            Mulder sat against the metal wall and shivered. He pushed his knees to his chest and tried to retain whatever body heat he had left. _What the fuck are they doing?_ During his last abduction he couldn’t remember being left alone for this long, let alone untouched. But he had been sitting for hours. He got up and paced, ran his hands over the metallic walls looking for any sort of seam or door. It was a solid dome. His glanced at the blinding light above him that gave off no heat. He refused to become hopeless, but the naggings of fear prickled at his scalp. He was cold, uncomfortable and alone, but his fear for Scully was gut wrenching. _She’s strong_ he reminded himself. She would fight, she always did. The memories of her running through the woods flashed through his mind. She was so fast; she had to have gotten away. Out of nowhere a piercing alarm split through the air in one continuous painful blast. It reverberated through his head and body and within seconds he was on the ground with his hands clasped over his ears. In minutes he was unconscious.

            When Mulder woke up he was still naked, but no longer in the metallic dome. He was strapped to a table, something like a gurney; his body spread out and exposed. There were multiple lights above him, bight but not blinding, though his head throbbed and he had to close his eyes. His skin felt clammy and when he tried to move his hands he realized he couldn’t. He was paralyzed. His eyes opened and he tried to turn his head to look at his out stretched arms but a strap placed over his forehead held him in place. He strained his eyes down his body to look at his feet, but was only able to see down his chest. Somewhere behind him the unmistakable sound of a door sliding open jolted him out of his panic. “Who’s there?” He called out, not really expecting an answer but more afraid that he would actually get one. He got an answer; a shadow moved around him and Mulder tried to follow with his eyes but couldn’t track it. He listened to the tapping footsteps around him. He didn’t feel the needle slide into the flesh of his forearm, and once again, he was shrouded in the blackness of his unconsciousness.

 

XXX

 

Scully drove in a delirium induced calm; she swerved around cars on the highway, adverting her eyes from the bodies that lay around them and within them. She stopped twice to siphon gas and to grab something to eat but had trouble choking anything down. She forced herself to drink water. She had no idea where she was going, only that she had to go west, west towards Montana, west to William.

Scully didn’t remember seeing the man before he walked out in front of her on a narrow back road. Her exhausted mind reacted too late and by the time she realized what was happening the man smashed into her speeding SUV, destroying the windshield and flipping up over top and slamming to the ground behind her. She jerked the wheel to the side and slammed the break peddle with both feet. The speed and sudden turn of the wheel sent the small SUV into a fishtail then rolled once, twice, and then a final time before coming to screeching halt of jagged metal. Scully never lost consciousness. She felt every jolt, slam and shatter of her body. When the car finally stopped moving and the engine choked and died, Scully finally let out a breath she felt like she had been holding for hours. She hung upside down, attached by her seatbelt that cut into her belly and chest. She unclipped it and slammed into the ceiling of the car, letting out an involuntary yelp that manifested into a groan as her body protested. She twisted off of her back and onto her hands and knees, wincing as the shattered and pebbled glass dug into her body. She gingerly pushed herself through the destroyed windshield and half fell onto the cement road. She pushed herself up and sat on her knees for a few moments trying to regulate her breathing. Blood trickled down her face from a gash on her head. Her back burned but she didn’t have the courage to reach around and find out why. A deep moan pulled Scully out of her daze and she suddenly remembered the man she had hit. In a flash she was on her feet, but just as she was about to run towards him, three other men rushed out of the woods to his aid. Scully crouched behind the mangled car.

“Fuck, Jesus Christ, Joe, you okay?” One man called as he nudged the injured man with his boot.

“Aw man, look at his head, there is no coming back from that.” Another man added. The injured man groaned then coughed, it was wet and Scully knew it was blood.

“I’ll do it.” One of the voices said. And then there was an explosion of a gunshot that echoed around them. Scully gasped and covered her mouth as the dying man’s moans ceased.

“Go see if anyone made it in that car.”

 _Fuck._ Scully looked around her and decided her best bet was to run into the woods. Heavy footsteps were moving closer to her and she jumped up, ignoring the burning in her hip and stabbing pain in her back. She ran as fast as she could. Which wasn’t fast enough.

“Hey! Stop!” A deep voice called from behind her and the pounding of heavy boots grew closer. Scully didn’t turn to look at the men chasing her she just pushed forward, but after a few strides she once again found herself facedown on the forest floor. This time, it was human men, not super soldiers that held her down. Rough hands grabbed her waist and flipped her over on her back, she held back a cry as her spine protested and sent shocks up and down her body. “Well, well, well, look what we got here, boys.” Three men of un-extraordinary looks peered down at her. Scully writhed and kicked at them, unwilling to go down without a fight, unwilling to go down at all.

“Hey baby, calm down, we’re not going to hurt you.” A callused hand rubbed her bruised face and pushed the hair off of her sticky forehead as another man held down her arms and the third sat on her legs.

“Get the fuck off of me!” She yelled and bucked her body up trying to wrench her way free. It was futile. The men were not in the best of shape and seemed kind of scrawny to Scully, but three of them against her was no match.

“Ohh, feisty little thing.” One of the men laughed and pressed his weight into her stomach and peered into her face. His breath was hot and smelled of stale cigarettes and beer. “You killed our friend, did you know that?”

Scully’s eyes blazed and she stared at him. “You killed him, you shot him.”

“You hit him, lady. How fast were you fucking going? That’s dangerous.” The trio laughed and Scully felt her gut clench. _This is not good._

“You can make it up to us….”

“The world is gone, ain’t no one here gunna help you.”

A snort and a throaty laughed echoed around them, “fuck, man, we can repopulate the world!”

“You wanna help us repopulate the word, little momma?”

A hand moved to the waist of her slacks and slipped down, fingers pressing into her pubic hair. Out of options, Scully screamed.

 


	5. Touched

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr prompt from frangipanidownunder: Post-col searching for William but instead of finding him, Mulder and Scully are separated and have to find each other too. Angst. Torture. The works.

When he woke up Mulder didn’t have to look down at his body to know that he had, once again, been experimented on. He could feel ever slice, puncture and tube sticking out of his body. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway; he couldn’t open his eyes. His skin burned even though he wasn’t able to move. He felt everything, the air moving raggedly in and out of his chest, his heart beating wildly and his pulse drumming in his ears. But he couldn’t move. He thought back to stories he had heard about patients waking up in the middle of surgery, able to feel everything being done to them but unable to cry out, to move or protest. Mulder tried to yell out, but nothing happened, he wasn’t sure if his mouth even opened. _Scully._ As always, she pushed past the pain and burrowed into his mind. No matter what he felt, his fear and terror that he felt for what was happening to Scully was stronger, more painful and never ending.

 

XXX

 

Scully shivered even though she sat next to a fire. The three men hadn’t raped her, yet. They toyed with her for most of the day as they moved deeper into the forest. As night fell they tied her wrists together and when she tried to escape, they tied her ankles. Her hip and thigh throbbed, and she could see where her skin was bubbled and peeling under her melted slacks. The green putrid acid blood of the super solider was searing into her skin even hours after it had touched her. She tried to ignore it, but that left her to focus on the constant vibration in the back of her neck. She was sure that the chip was related to the soldiers and she knew that another attack, while she was tied up, was certain death. She pulled her knees to her chest and laid her forehead on them. Her hair, snarled and filled with plant matter was like a shroud around her. The men sat around the fire, their elementary conversation droning in her ears, their eyes constantly boring into her.

Leaves rustled and she felt a hand run up her back, under her silk shirt. She jerked and lifted her head, her eyes blazing. “How ya doin’, momma?” The largest of the men snorted and spit into the fire before placing his hand under her shirt again. Scully had learned that his name was Jay and while he was big and could easily overpower her, he was slow and clumsy. She decided that if she were to get out of her situation it would be because she would elude Jay. She hoped.

“Don’t touch me,” Scully sneered and turned her face away from him, her pupils retracting as she stared into the fire.

“Yeah, don’t touch ‘er Jay, she’s mine!” The leader and smallest member of the group, Carl, laughed. Carl was hardly bigger than Scully, but he was scrappy, fast, and dangerous. If she died, it would be at Carl’s hand. The other man wasn’t really a man, he was Carl’s nephew and he was young, scared and his hands shook when he tied her wrists. Lucas never made eye contact with her, or with anyone, but he obeyed his uncle. _He would probably die first out here._

“Come on, Carl, you said we could share.” Jay whined and pulled his hand out from under Scully’s shirt.

“We can share, but I get first dibs,” Carl smiled at Scully, a vile smile that left her feeling even more vulnerable.

Jay ran a rough hand over her bruised cheek, “okay.”

“I, uh” Scully coughed, clearing her throat to hide the shakiness of her voice, “I need to go to the bathroom.” She really did, she wasn’t lying to the men, but she thought that maybe it would be a distraction and she could get away. She had to get away.

Carl moved to his feet slowly, walked around the fire and stood over Scully, his hand brushing at his crotch. “I can take you.”

“Thank you,” Scully whispered. She stared into Carl’s eyes, almost daring him to try something with her.

Carl took a knife out of his pocket and cut the ties around her ankles then grabbed the rope tying her wrists and hauled her up to her feet, “come on.” He pulled her away from the fire and into the darkness of the woods. He pushed her behind a large tree and pressed his hands into her belly and moved them slowly down to the button and zipper of her pants.

Scully jerked her hips away, “I can do it. Thank you.”

Carl sneered at her, “oh? Okay, g’head then.” He crossed his arms over his chest and watched her.

Scully felt her face flush as she unbuttoned her pants and started on the zipper then stopped. “I don’t have to go anymore,” she swallowed and took a step away from him.

“Yeah ya’ do. Come on, don’t be such a prude.” He grabbed the front waistband of her pants and yanked her to him then in one movement he yanked her slacks and panties to her ankles, ripping the melted fabric out of the burned skin of her thigh. Scully hissed in pain, forgetting her nakedness as she glanced at the weeping wound that started on her upper thigh and moved up her hip. Carl ran his eyes over her lower body then paused at her thigh, “what the fuck did ya do?”

“It’s a burn,” she said through clenched teeth.

“That don’t look like no burn I’ve ever seen.” He squinted and looked closer, “shit, babe, that’s nasty.” His face scrunched up with a grimace and he turned his back to her, “go on now, pee.”

Scully looked at Carl’s back and cursed her own pain and vulnerability. She maneuvered her body and managed to do her business and shimmy her pants back up, taking care not to touch the burn. “Okay.”

Carl guided her back to the fire and pushed her back down rougher than she had expected. She watched as he tugged at the crotch of his pants again with a scowl on his face. She had interrupted his plans for her. _Thank you alien blood._

“That was fast,” Jay laughed.

“Fuck off. She’s got something nasty on her leg,” Carl said.

“It’s a burn,” Scully corrected him. “I really need to treat it before it gets infected.”

“Lady, I have been burned but that ain’t no burn,” Carl said.

“We got nothing to help a burn here,” Jay added.

“You have water, I just need to clean it out.”

“Okay, lets clean this burn,” Carl moved to crouch next to her and pushed her down to her back and yanked at just her pants this time, the material stuck to the weeping injury. Scully moved to her other thigh and sat up to get a better look. _Shit._ It was bad, deep and oozing. About 7 jagged inches up to her hip, about 3 inches at it’s widest. There was no blood; just thin greenish ooze that seemed to continuously seep from it. “Come on, lets fix her up,” Carl said as he opened an old water bottle and started pouring the water into the wound. There was an audible hiss when the water touched her skin, like a chemical reaction. Scully couldn’t hold back the sharp cry that forced its way out of her throat and she jerked, trying to move her body away. “Hold’r Jay!” Carl’s hand pressed roughly behind the bend of her knee and held her tightly while Jay wrapped his large hands around her waist, holding her tightly to the ground. Carl smiled and ran his hand up her thigh.

Through the burning Scully felt his fingers slip under the crotch of her panties and she thrashed harder, “get off of me!” She kicked at Carl and clawed at Jay’s hands that tightened painfully around her.


End file.
